This invention relates to the packaging of various items in a cushioned environment, particularly to such items that may be fragile and shipped long distances requiring that the contents not be damaged during transport.
There have been various ways for packaging items. These include the common use of Styrofoam or paper fragments as a cushioning medium. There has also been used a cushioning product known as xe2x80x9cbubble packxe2x80x9d which consists of a series of bubbles containing air under pressure that function to cushion the package during shipment. These items have worked reasonably well but have been somewhat expensive and do not readily lend themselves to being used by those companies that do not package a large number of items. These common types of cushioning mediums also requires a somewhat large storage area to contain the bubble pack or Styrofoam or other solid materials that are to be used when packaging.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a very novel, unique and easy to use packaging arrangement that will provide a cushioned environment for an item to be packaged. The packaging material can consist of very simple and readily available plastic tubes that can be stored on a roll or the like and thus requires very little storage space for a very large quantity of cushioning material. Essentially, the invention consists of inner and outer packaging configurations in which the inner chamber consists of a plastic tube that holds the contents is initially expanded to receive the contents and then evacuated to positively locate of the item within the container assembly. Surrounding the inner container is an outer container which in the preferred embodiment also consists of a plastic tube that is connected by resilient connectors to the inner tube. The inner tube is provided with a hose that can be used to evacuate the inner chamber forming a vacuum which disposes the inner chamber wall closely around the item disposed therein. The outer tube is similarly provided with a hose which hose can be used to inflate the outer tube and thereby provide a cushioning environment about the inner tube and item packaged therein. Both tubes are then sealed off to prevent either air from being introduced into the inner chamber and thus providing for a loose package or from air escaping from the outer container to reduce the cushioning effect.